THE CORAL ROSE

The Coral Rose

the symbol of elegance
grace and beauty
captivating and alluring
desire
fascination
longing
enthusiasm

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - OLD AGE

"All the sands of my life
are somehow getting into the
wrong end of the hourglass. If I could
could only reverse it! Were it my
power to do so, would I?"


Thomas Bailey Aldrich

WHAT IS OLD?

While on repat leave, my nephews and nieces were always having clean fun jokes of my age, and that I should now get a senior citizen card to avail all the special privileges and benefits granted to elderly citizens, such as fare discounts, health care, etc. They would always end up looking at each other and laughed their hearts out loud. Hey... hey... hey... come on guys... I am not that old! Am only ... ty-two! The truth is, I am still young. They just love to tease me because I look older for my age.

Why do people become more fearful with the approach of age? One reason is that we live in a society that glorifies youth. Although middle-aged people in our society may be respected, this respect can be threatened by an arbitrary retirement age. While other factors may be at work, the approach of old age adds to anxiety during middle life, and perhaps makes people feel old sooner.

Getting old seems remote to most young people. Even people of sixty-five who are active and healthy tend to think of themselves as middle aged rather than old, and often insist that you are as young as you feel. But a person of fifty who is in poor health my feel very old.

We put off thinking about growing old. Yet reminders of old age are present from childhood. When young, we may have contact with an aging grandparent. Later we may be responsible for the physical and emotional needs of aging parents. Our experiences with aging friends and relatives will influence our own experiences in later years.

Being old is an individual matter. What people make of old age is influenced by the health and the viewpoint they bring to it. Cultural attitudes are important, also. Most cultures respect the aged.

THE LIFELINE TO GOD!

Prayer like life is a unique experience to each person. It is very personal. It is the deepening of one's personal relationship with God. An art of communicating between you and Him. As form of communication, prayer involves your talking and listening to God. So prayer, is simply talking to God and listening to Him while he talks. It is the most basic expression of our faith in God. To quote the author of the Power of Living, "it is the breathing of our spiritual life. It is our lifeline to God."

But how many of us today have difficulty in praying? How should we pray? And what if we will no longer pray? You will soon find out that you longer recognize and hear Jesus Christ talking to you through the circumstances of your life. Prayer is turning to God and without it our lives become progressively more self-centered.

WINNING AT THE GAME OF LIFE

A good friend shared this very inspiring prayer.
So what's the goal of life and how do you win the game?

Dear Lord, please help me be a good sport in the game of life. I am asking for an easy place n the lineup. In fact, put me anywhere You need me. I always try to give You 100% of everything I have.

If all the hard drives seem to come my way, then I thank You for the compliment, knowing that You never send Your players more trouble than they can handle.

I also ask You Lord, to help me accept the bad breaks as part of the game and may i always play on the square despite what others may do. Help me to keep reading and studying "The Book" so I'll always know the rules.

And if the natural turn of events goes against me and I'm benched either for sickness or old age, help me to accept that as part of the game, too. Keep me from whimpering that I was framed or that I a raw deal.

And lastly, my Lord, when my final inning comes, I ask for no laurels. My only goal is to know in my heart that I played as well as I could and that I didn't let You down.

Amen!

"The Kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in the field.
When a man found it, he hid it again, and then
in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field."

Jesus Christ (Matthew 13:44 NIV)

JOKE TIME - 2

There was this couple that had been married for 20 years. Every time they made love the husband always insisted on shutting off the lights. Well, after 20 years, the wife felt this was ridiculous. She figured she would break him of this crazy habit. So one night, while they were in the middle of a wild, screaming, romantic session, she turned on the light. She looked down... and saw her husband was holding a battery operated pleasure device... a vibrator... soft, wonderful, and larger than a real one. She goes completely ballistic.

"You impotent bastard," she screamed at him, "how could you be lying to me all of these years? You better explain yourself!"

The husband looks her straight in the eyes and says calmly:

"I'll explain the toy... if you explain the kids!"

HOW DO WE GET ATTITUDES?

I always hear the phrase, "he/she has an attitude!"
But how do we get attitude?

An attitude differs from an opinion, belief, or simply a point of view. An attitude implies a feeling about something as well as knowledge of it. Attitudes have a dynamic, motivational impact that the other concepts lack. When beliefs or opinions are emotionally tinged, when they involve existing situations, and when they cause us to respond in a consistent way toward people or events, they become attitudes.

In one case, our attitude is based on what we read. In the other, it is based on what we saw. Attitudes can also come from observing models--seeing how other people do things. Attitude can come from being rewarded or punished for conforming or not conforming to standards our family or peers consider important.

DWF - A TRAFFIC VIOLATION!

What is DWF?

It's a traffic violation, which means "Driving While Female!"

A woman was caught violating the law by being behind the streering wheel of a moving car. She's an Arab foreigner, and being married to a local man, definitely knows the dos' and don'ts about driving in the kingdom. The husband was called to the police station to pick his wife. The cop instructed the husband to make sure his wife does not repeat such a terrible crime as driving a car, which, according to the defenders of the law can lead to immoral behavior.

Considering how many men drive in the Kingdom (and the lax enforcement of speed limits and other basic driving rules), apparently, it's not quite as immoral to endanger the lives of selves and others by speeding, changing lanes erratically without signaling, and disregarding traffic signs.

If you wish to thoroughly enjoy and live an ideal life in the Kingdom, please observe rules and regulations and be respectful of the local traditions.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - FIDELITY

"Nothing is more noble,
nothing more venerable than fidelity.
Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred
excellences and endowments of the
human mind."


Marcus Tulius Cicero

A WEDDING RITE INTERRUPTED!

Strange News

"No, father, you are not going to
neglect our mother again!"

Three sons prevented their father from committing bigamy by abducting him from his own wedding. The sons, who accused their father of neglecting their mother, brandished axes and knives at wedding guests before bundling their father into a car and whisking him away. Wedding guests at the school hall tried to salvage the occasion by turning it into a church service. But the bride left in tears.

The pastor, who was supposed to preside over the wedding, urged guests to still enjoy the food and give gifts. "Although there are no papers to be signed here, I am going to give my gift and say, 'God bless this family'," the pastor told the guests.

It happened in Zimbabwe!

HIGHER EDUCATION, HIGHER FEES!

Nowadays, sending children to good schools for higher education is a very expensive endeavor.

The step taken recently by a number of schools to increase their fees is undoubtedly of great significance as it affects a large number of families and their children. The increase in fee will also have an influence on families on whether or not to continue educating their children.

The question really is not whether the increases in school fees are justified or not. Rather, the issue at hand here is how will the increase affect the quality of education that is being placed on offer. The relationship between pricing fees and the areas it is affecting within a certain educational system should be closely monitored. Such an outlook, of course, should by no means be perceived as a mandate for schools to increase prices unreasonably and unjustifiably.

To offer appropriate and qualified education does not render schools the right to turn this into an unaffordable burden for parents. At times, the ends do not necessarily justify the means.

TRIVIA - DEFENDER OF THE FAITH

In 1521, Henry the VIII

had the title of "Defender of the Faith"

Did you know that ten years before Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church and established the Church of England over the issue of his divorce, he wrote a book entitled, Assertion of the Seven Sacraments, which attacked Martin Luther's theses and affirmed his loyalty to the pope. The pope granted Henry the title, "Defender of the Faith" for having written this scholastic work. The king kept the title after breaking away from Catholicism--as have his successors to this very day.

SURVIVING THE HOT SUMMER DAYS!

We are experiencing some hottest days of the year with temperatures climbing to 48degC in most part of the Kingdom. Forecasters are predicting more of the same over the next few days due to hot and dry southernly winds.

The hottest day was last Friday with the temperature shooting up to 51degC. Although the mercury has not yet officially touched 53deC, the highest summer temperature in the last ten years, the Kingdom is already suffering from the heat wave coming from the empty quarter, a desert bordering the UAE and Saudi Arabia. When the actual temperature is coupled with high humidity, the severity of conditions experienced increases three to four degrees.

The climate of most of Saudi Arabia is very hot in the summer, hot in the spring and fall, and moderate during the winter months. Contrary to popular belief, it occasionally rains in Saudi Arabia. The highest annual rainfall of 215.5mm (9 inches) occurs in Khamis Mushayt. Also, in Dhahran/Dammam, high humidity is the norm during the hot summer months.

INSEPARABLE - BFF

Inseparable best friends share it all!

Not even Ai Ai and Sharon could equal or emulate the genuine, sincere, lasting friendship of these women.


Best friend... he is yours tonight...


Two young women, best friends, had shared most of their lives together. Since childhood they were joined at the proverbial hip. They traveled together. They shared each other's secrets. And at least once a week for as long as they could remember they spent the night at each other's homes. So when one of them got married, it threw a chink in their chain. That is, until they agreed that they should be both married to the same man. The husband, to the delight of the best friends, agreed to marry both of them.

Will you share your husband to your best friend?

DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?

Do you hear what I hear?
Said the desert wind to the shepherd boy!!!
Do you heart what I hear?

There are some ring tones pleasing to the ears, at the same time, some are irritating and are just plain horrible. They can be entertaining if you choose the right ring tones carefully.

Here is a true story of a man who was rescued when a shepherd was drawn to his unanswered mobile phone. The shepherd was wandering in the desert with his flock when he heard the sound of a mobile ring tone tinkling away in the distance. When he identified the source of the noise, he found a man lying unconscious next to his car on a remote desert road. The shepherd answered the call and told the man, who happened to be a relative of the unconscious man, on the other end that the owner of the phone was not well. The man was able to bring a doctor after the shepherd described the location. The man was saved from fatal dehydration by a doctor, a shepherd and a tinkling ring tone of the mobile phone.

Well, one useful purpose that ring tones serve is that they notify the owner of the mobile phone to an incoming call.

halooohh... halooohhh....
sooori... rung numberrrr!!!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - SHYNESS

"What difference is there between us,
save a restless dream that follows my soul
but fears to come near you?"



Kahlil Gibran

IT TAKES TWO TO RELATE

... shy girl, shy girl, don't shy away ...

For a number of reasons, some people keep others at a distance. Proximity makes them uneasy or self-conscious. Shyness is often a barrier to having good relationships with other people. Typically, the shy person is someone who wants to join in, to share personal intimacies, to feel comfortable about being with others, but somehow is inhibited from doing so. Often this is because he or she has low self-esteem. Such individuals frequently become tongue-tied when they try to speak. They blush if others become friendly or intimate with them. The social exchange is even as an emotional threat--not an opportunity. The shy person backs away from the encounter for self-protection.

Of course, there are positive aspects to shyness. Some people simply might prefer their own company to that of others. But the person who likes to be alone can pay a high price for such privacy. When is or she does need contact with others, it may not be there. It takes two to relate.

JOKE TIME - 1

A bus stops and two Italian men get on. They sit down and engage in an animated conversation. The lady sitting behind them ignores them at first, but her attention is galvanized when she hears one of the men say the following:

"Emma come first. Den I come. Den two asses come together. I come once-a-more. Two asses, they come together again. I come again and pee twice. Then I come one last time."

"You foul-mouthed swine," retorted the lady indignantly. "In this country we don't talk about our sex lives in public!"

"Hey, coola down lady," said the man. "Who talkin' abouta sexa? I'm justa tellin' my frienda how to spella "Mississippi!".


Courtesy of my best friend,

who is very, very, very busy
with his Facebook!

HOW MANY OF THEM?

War, they say, is big business. It pushes up the prices of some metals. It spells more profit for the manufacturers of armaments, and in the past, it was used as a means to economic ends, such as the conquest of markets or sources of raw materials. But it is the twisted mind of those motivated by greed that pursues a policy of war for profit.

We would like to believe that peace also means big business for the many because it creates the stability for long term investments. The minimal condition for regional peace and stability is mutual trust between the two superpowers. And the atmosphere for mutual trust is created when there are no threats hiding behind the deceptive words of security and deterrence, threats that are in the form of nuclear arms stored in overseas bases, and the overseas bases themselves.

"... How many of these millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested dug out? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets? How many of them parried a bayonet thrust of an enemy? How many of them were wounded or killed in battle?..."

Major General Smedley D. Butler, USMC Retired
Two-time Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient

REINFORCING STATUS QUO

... i hereby sentence you to ...

Evidence of racial discrimination is hardly contestable, but there is also evidence that social class is the basis for discriminatory treatment of capital offenders within the criminal justice system. Poverty and social deprivation, while not confined to colored people has served to create a contemptuous stereotype, based on race, which actually does deprive people of their basic human qualities not only in the eyes of the dominant culture, but also in their own eyes.

Many appear to have tolerated the use of the death penalty against the racially subjugated and the impoverished. In fact the death penalty has been--and is being--used carelessly and arbitrarily to promulgate the cause of the dominant higher echelons of society.

Discriminatory culture still prevails. The consequences of institutionalized racism, apart from its effects on the individuals concerned, means that across society the death penalty has no bearing on the needs of justice. Its effectiveness as a crime deterrent has been disproved, and as retribution its inconsistent application has rendered it invalid. It is purely a means of reinforcing the status quo.

Ref: MD 1996

THAT'S WHAT YOU GET ...

That's what you get for... no..., not for loving me,
but for invading my privacy...
you son of a ...

A friend recounted a story he witnessed about a local boy, who was taught by a woman a once-in-life lesson he will never forget. The woman, caught the boy secretly taking pictures of her with his cell phone at an amusement park. The woman snatched the cell phone from his hand and smashed it on the ground. She then began beating the teenager with her fists while he helplessly screamed at the top of his lungs for help. Security guards arrived on the scene and saved the boy from the wrath of the irate woman. To add to his misery, the youth was handed over to police for further investigation.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - INJUSTICE

"The strictest law sometimes becomes
the severest injustice."



Benjamin Franklin

DESERT LANDSCAPE

The stereotype of the Saudi Arabian landscape can be summed up with four words: sand dunes and camels. But most people who visit the Kingdom are struck in one way or another by the country's diversity of habitat. While there are indeed a considerable number of camels and sand dunes, the region is also home to mountains, baboons, ancient volcanoes, mesas, coral reefs, and, if you can believe it, even ice.

The extreme highlands of the southwest, known for their pleasant year-round temperatures, are struck with the occasional frost during the winter months, usually melted away by mid-day.

One particular characteristic that is uncharacteristic for the land whose very mention conjures cinematic images from "Lawrence of Arabia" is the growing of such undesert-like crops as tomatoes and eggplants. More farms have been cropping up around the southwest and in recent years more of these farms are also growing mangoes, the ubiquitous fruit of the tropics. People have said that these mangoes are quite sweet and indistinguishable from their Indian cousins.

ON THE WANTED LIST!

A two-year old boy was briefly held at the airport after he appeared on a list of wanted security suspects. Immigration officers approached the toddler's parents as they wheeled their son's pram to a flight to Turkey last month for a holiday and told them he was not allowed to fly.

Can you imagine that?

"They said, they wanted my son, as the date of birth, the passport number and all other details in the system showed they had the correct suspect."

What a stupid mistake!

The infant was eventually allowed to fly after a probe revealed he was on the wanted list by mistake.

I would not be surprised if a teen-age passenger would be held in the immigration for mistaken identity, but to suspect a two-year old boy as a security threat is not only ridiculous. It's all about stupidity, plain and simple.

MONEY OR DIVORCE?

Money may make the world go 'round, but it also plays a key role in making or breaking marriages.

This is a true account of a man who lost a fortune in the stock market demanded that his wife give him money she had socked away so he could continue his losing streak on the bourse (stock exchange). He also demanded that she sells off all of her jewelry for more cash. When she refused, he laid down an ultimatum: Give him the money or divorce was imminent. Fine, the woman said: It's divorce then, and she was gone.

May this serve as a valuable primer for married men everywhere. When you're broke because you made dumb decisions and sank money into short-term speculation on the stock market (many consider such stock prospecting as the moral equivalent of gambling), the last thing you need to be doing is laying down blackmail and ultimatums against your wife. She can always find another broke, dumb guy; there are plenty of those fish in the sea.

TRIVIA - MALAGASY TRIBES

Did you know that every four or five years the Malagasy of the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, off southeast Africa, retrieve their dead from tombs that are half above ground and half below, expose them to the sunlight, toss them and catch them, and then wrap them in a new silk for reinterment. It is called "famadihana," and it is a time of much celebration, w tih singing and dancing.

ORIGIN OF SWINE FLU!

Yep! that's right, child kisses swine,
mom kisses child, then she kisses dad,
dad kisses secretary, secretary kisses
her boyfriend, her boyfriend
go to a bar and take a
girl and it spread
from there...

just be careful guys!!!

I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD

I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD
by: William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them dance; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.



The author appreciates the cheerful
sight of the dancing daffodils!

IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY SISTER, RAQUEL

In memory

of my dearest sister, Raquel

Nineteen years ago...

Today you went home with Jesus,

Walked hand in hand through heaven's gate.

You are still with each of us,

In our hearts your memory waits.

To remind us with each new day,

Our life's are touched by your love,

You're not really far away,

Waiting for us in heaven above

Someday when Jesus calls our name,

One by one we'll meet again,

We'll walk hand in hand the same,

Meeting you at the gate to heaven.

When we miss you and need to visit,

We'll go to the garden and wait.

So we can feel your spirit

Just beyond the garden gate.

Those we love remain with us
for love itself lives on.
Cherished memories never fade,
because one loved is gone.
Those we love can never be,
more than a thought apart,
for as long as there is a memory,
they live on in our heart.

~ Anonymous

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - GOOD MANNERS

"Children are natural mimics who act
like their parents despite every effort to
teach them good manners."

Author Unknown

MIND YOUR MANNERS CHILDREN - 2

Children love to take after their parents, and if their parents have good manners, their good manners will usually come naturally. On the other hand, no one can expect a child of two of three years of age to act exactly like a grown-up. Certainly, they may forget to say, "thank you" once in a while, or they may be sloppy from time to time when they are eating at the table. Occasional forgetting of good manners is expected in a small child and is almost always forgiven quickly.

It is funny, but some children at four and five years have better manners than they do when they get to be six, seven or eight. Them to forget all the good things their parents taught when they were young. But it really isn't true. Actually, they neglect their good manners when they get to be six, seven or eight in order to show their parents that they have become independent. It's almost as if they were saying, "Mother, I have always acted and behaved exactly as you told me to when I was little. But now, I'm grown up and I can do what I please.

Ref: Good and Bad Manners